Yolana's 2010

This will be the first time I've kept up with the books I've read in a year. So far I have only Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart under my belt. The rest of the time has been spent with The Goldbug Variations by Richard Powers which I really love but is not a fast read at a dense 600+ pages. A gift from my LT secret santa and well chosen at that.

welcome to a friendly group. Don't be surprised to see many folks commenting on your thread as you go along. Some of us are trying to not increase our ToBeRead piles, or our Wishlists, but sometimes we just can't help ourselves. Welcome to the fray.

And speaking of TBR piles...I've just added Wicked Plants to mine! It looks great--did you enjoy it?

Howdy! Just dropping by to say hello.

Welcome!

Welcome to the group!

I just checked The Gold Bug Variations out of the library recently and will be reading it soon. I will be interested in seeing what you think of it.

Wicked Plants... I saw that on a bookstore shelf several years ago and had forgotten all about it!!! Wow, and I think at the time I'd intended to go back and purchase it too, I wonder what happened... never mind, now that you've reminded me of it, on the TBR list it goes!

#3 I really enjoyed it. It's by no means a comprehensive guide to all poisonous plants and a quite a few of the entries were too brief. But when Ms Stewart gets fired up about a particular plant she tells a great tale.

Still haven't finished the Gold Bug Variations and books are still coming in from all my christmas gift certificate spending. I've added The Picture of Dorian Gray and Tess of the D'Urbervilles because the were part of the new Coralie Bickford-Smith series of Penguin Classics. Way to pretty to pass up and I didn't have either in any format. I also got People of the Book because my best friend keeps telling me I wont regret it, Odd and the Frost Giants because I can't resist Neil Gaiman , The Glass of Time, Clifford Pickover's The Math Book: From Pythagors to the 57th Dimension.. and Rosemary Verey's English Country Gardens

Wow, I've spent the whole month on one book but no regrets. The Gold Bug Variations has left me knowing a lot more about genetics dna and the goldberg variations by bach. I'm a violinist but i had not thought about t bach's piano works much until this book. And I found that although I really liked none of the characters, ecxcept stuart ressler I found their story compelling, I also like the way the novel was structured. I suspect powers structured much like the goldbergs themselves but i'll have to go back and reread to be sure.

#10: I cannot wait to get to that one. Sounds like you enjoyed it a lot.

I see you are a fantasy reader. Did you see we are having a group read of Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles? I see you have some of them in your library. It's not too late to join us, if you haven't already. Look for the link on the group page.

#12 I've ordered The Book of Three and can't wait to join in. I've also this past week finished The Battle of Salamis which was a really good read except I found myself impatient with his device of starting out each chapter with a character description before honing in on the meat of the chapter. However, that said I really appreciated the history and situation of the characters since each helped shaped the battle's outcome for good or ill. All in all a detailed reconstruction of one of the great naval battles of the classical world. I also read Odd and the Frost Giants a quick read but I always enjoy Gaiman, even the children's books and I finished out the week with The Hunger Games which literally kept me awake at night because I couldn't put it down. Wow, so five down and 70 to go.

I am one of the lovers of The Hunger Games too. I am anxiously awaiting August when book 3 in the series is supposed to come out.

Add me to the list of The Hunger Games fans. LOVE that book. I was so unhappy when I discovered that I had to wait till August for book three. You know what, lets just not talk about it. I try not to think about how long it is till August.

#15: I try not to think about how long it is till August.

Me, either.

well, this past week I read the book of three, The glass of time and The Picture of Dorian Gray. I really enjoyed the first to but found The Picture of Dorian Gray to be so relentlessly clever and witty that I ended up wanted to burn the book and particulary Lord Henry with it. Now I just need to go find that chronicles of prydain thread. 8 down.

Sounds like a productive reading week. I'll look for your comments on the Prydain thread.

Alcottacre and Trishnyc, I loved the first one so much that I have held out reading the second. I want to read it in August when I can get all my questions answered. However I bought Catching Fire already so who knows how long I can resist.

I've been busy the past 6 weeks with bee school and studying for the masters beekeeping exam so my recreational reading has been cut into quite a bit. however besides Lessons in Beginning Beekeeping I've also managed to squeeze in Arkansas by John Brandon and Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann which was the highlight of the month. Hope every one is enjoying their spring reading.

oops, the book is a actually called First Lessons in Beekeeping.

I never heard of such a thing as a masters beekeeping exam! Who knew? Good luck on it!

I passed my exam and I have my bees all settled into their hive. So the past three or four weeks, I've read The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer, The Discovery of King Arthur by Geoffrey Ashe, Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan and The Kreutzer Sonata by Margriet de Moor which is fascinating because aside from the writing in that first you have Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata that inspired a novella by Tolstoy, which in turn inspired a string quartet by Leos Janacek, which is the inspiration for this novel. Since I have played both the Beethoven piece and the Janacek and read the Tolstoy it seems soothingly round to have read this novel. Hope every one is reading away, Wow I've only read 15 books this year and next up is Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes which is quite dense.

Congratulations on passing the exam!

I have Matterhorn on hold at the local library, so I will be joining in its denseness soon :)

This past month I read Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes, which despite the fact that it annoyed me for the first 25 pages I ended up not being able to but it down. I've also read A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans, People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks and The Math Book by Clifford Pickover which is a great read if you're at all interested in mathematics. It's actually all great reading but I will never get to 75 books at this rate. i'd have to convince my children that they don't need me, give up gardening and practice and who knows what all. One day though, I hope I'll make it. So I'm at a whopping 18 down.

I make it 19 down, if you were at 15 pre-Matterhorn! Every little bit helps.

#25: I have Matterhorn home from the library now. I hope I like it as much as you did.

The Math Book looks like one I would enjoy too, so I am putting it in the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation of that one.

ronincats thanks for correcting my arithmatic. alcottacre I hope you'll enjoy Matterhorn as much as I did but be prepared for sections of total bleakness. if you've read 2666 it has sections that are as bleak as the part about the crimes in that book.

No, I have not yet read 2666, although I mean to some time. I figure any book about Vietnam is going to be bleak.

Last week I did a chamber music workshop so I didn't read very much but before that I read:

Grooks 3 a book of really clever poetry by Danish mathematician Piet Hein,

Spartans a very brief history of Sparta by Paul Cartledge. My comp;aint about this book was the way it just skimmed over details. If anyone knows a a really meaty history of Sparta do tell.

Home Outside by Julie Moir Messervy. It was one of those gardening books where the text is just as good, maybe even better, than the drool worthy pictures. That hasn't happened to me since reading A Garden Gallery by George Little and David Lewis.

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell which was another great read and her sense of humor cracks me up

and last I read Freefall Brian William and I think Roderick Gordan. It's number three in the Tunnels series that my son loves so much. It had lots of action but the plots are becoming a bit formulaic. At the end of every book they like to separate all the main protagonists so that in the next book someone is going back in the hole as it were to rescue his compradres. Still lots of action and a nice YA novel to read while waiting for Mockingjay to get here.

23 down. Next up is A Separate Peace, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and Gene Genealogies, Variation and Evolution.

I loved Cranford. I am glad you enjoyed it as well.

Looks like you have some good reading coming up. I just recently read A Separate Peace and Haroun and the Sea of Stories was one of my favorite reads last year.

It was your list that made me decide to read Cranford and A Separate Peace. Your list is a dream (or some would say a curse) for my tbr pile.

#32: I have the same problem with other people's lists, so what goes around comes around :)

It's been a good reading month for me as my children were out of town for week. I read Haroun and the Sea of Stories , A Separate Peace, Plan Bee (a great book about bees and beekeeping), Hellhound on His Trail(, a book about the assassination of MLK and the hunt for his killer), Catching Fire (three times actually) because I couldn't stand waiting any longer and Mockingjay is just around the corner, The Last Stand (about little bighorn, Custer and Sitting Bull), The Passage. I also read Purely for Pleasure, a book I ordered by accident thinking it was Printing for Pleasure} by John Ryder. It ended up being a collection of literary/biographical essays including several on the Brontes and two on Charlotte Bronte's first biographer, Elizabeth Gaskell. So to make the circuit complete (I read Cranford last month), I read Jane Eyre}.

32 down. next up is Witz by Joshua Cohen, which will take some time since his work always does for me and then Monmartre Mon Pays by Roland Dorgeles which though it's short is in french so again taking a while.

Looks like you got some great reading done while the kids were gone!

It's been a while since I checked in. But quite a bit of reading done. I postponed witz but did read Monmartre mons Pays, Far from the Madding Crowd by Hardy, The Secret Garden, I'm a gardener and had never read this, The Phantom of The Opera, A Passion For Books (I have an extra paperback copy of this if anyone wants it) and Mockingjay for which I wrote my very first review. I also re-read the 1st 4 books of the Harry Potter series which I've been meaning to do since #7 came out but just couldn't face umbridge and capslock harry. I think I'll just skip that one. yeah, 42 down. I have the new David Mitchell in the wings, as well as 84 Charing Cross Rd and In the Time of Our Singing by Richard Powers., and I hope everyone is having a great fall.

oops, forgot The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel. 43

I love 84, Charing Cross Road so I hope you enjoy it as well, Yolana!

I think I read about it on your list. you are sincerely hard on a girl's wallet.

#40: Moi? Never!

Usually I try to wait a month before adding to the list but it's been raining for days and I can't get to my garden. I've read:

84 Charing Cross Road absolutely loved it

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet which I actually liked (and reviewed) though for me it didn't live up to the hype.

The Time of Our Singing my second book by Richard Powers and he could easily become one of my favorite authors. again I reviewed it. I've made it my goal to review at least 2 books a month since I feel it makes me a more attentive reader.

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Fowler. Igot it because of the title and it was a pleasant enough way to pass and evening but my memory of it is already fading.

The Giver by Lois Lowry. I was in the mood for dystopian fiction after reading Mockingjay. Quite a good book.

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ Very good, especially if you remind yourself to treat it as any other novel with fictional characters. Pullman is a militant atheist (which i don't get actually, there's a laundry list of things I don't believe in, like say fairies and leprechauns, that i don't get up on a soap box about), and a very, very good writer..

The Violin of Auschitz: A Novel Why of why is every other book these days subtitled "A Novel". Do these authors really believe we need help distinguishing fiction from non-fiction?.

Any way that's it for this month, still reading Witz, I could barely comprehend the first chapter but after that it's much better, and cohen's prose, as always, a joy to read. On deck Family Portrait by Catherine Drinker Bowen and The Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.

so that leaves me25 books to read between now and new years.

>42 yolana:: I wonder if 84 Charing Cross Road would be this group's favorite read if we averaged the reviews of everything? I loved it also.

#42: The Violin of Auschwitz looks very good. Thanks for the mention of that one!

#43 I've not read one negative comment about it from anyone in this group (except perhaps that it was too short.)

#44 I think you'd enjoy it. It's short and of course being a holocaust novel the usual Nazi atrocities are present. But I really enjoyed the way the protagonist became a person again through art after the horrors of the camp specialized in reducing it's victim's humanity.

#45: Thanks for the additional input, Yolana.

Great review of The Time of Our Singing. Richard Powers is one of my favorite contemporary authors, although I've been a little disappointed in his last couple of books.

I think the next one I read will be Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance, I think that's the first one. It's too bad that you were disappointed in last ones, I'll have to read them because when I like an author I tend to go on quite the bender and read everything they have in print. Thanks for the heads-up.

well it's that time again. This month I read

The Physik Book of Deliverance Dane , an enjoyable read but it probably won't stay with me.
Gideon the Cutpurse which I only bought because my youngest son's name is Gideon. Nice premise, not particularly well executed though and I think perhaps the editor might have been skimming instead of doing a close read. The story itself was not bad.
Family Portrait by Catherine Drinker Bowen which I loved. I wrote a review for this one.
Mr. Darcy's Diary the second Austen knock-off I've read in as many months. Though this one had the sense to include a lot of Austens original prose there still' ain't nothing like the real thing baby.',
The Jungle Book because I was discussing Nagini in Harry Potter with one of my sons and thought, when was the last time I read Rikki-Tikki-Tavi? I ended up reading the whole book.
Beautiful Darkness, the second book in the Caster chronicles because as far as teen paranormal romances go it's really quite good.
Anansi Boys, I always find Gaiman to be well worth the read. and last but not least
The Book Thief a book I put off reading for far too long because I didn't like the title. I reviewed this one as well.

Happy reading and Happy Halloween everybody.

forgot to sum up, I now have 17 more to go. On deck is a reread of Witz (oy vey, actually it's good) which has to be read twice i think to be counted as read, Middlemarch, The Woman in White, and Luka and the Fire of Life.

Glad to know you enjoyed Family Portrait. I did as well.

Only 17 more to go? Good for you!

Anansi Boys is one of my favorite Gaimans, while another is The Graveyard Book which owes much to The Jungle Books, a childhood love of mine! Happy Halloween to you. I'll be doing the Middlemarch group read as well.

and presto, The Graveyard Book is added to the tbr pile.

#52: Oh, it is a good one! I hope you enjoy it.

If you love the Mowgli stories, you'll definitely enjoy The Graveyard Book!

>49 yolana:.....The Book Thief a book I put off reading for far too long because I didn't like the title.

I put off reading that one because I didn't like the cover! I havent read your review yet, but the book didnt really grab me as much as it has others here on LT.

I hated the cover as well. I ended up buying it on the kindle though so I don't have to stare at those dominoes. The book designer really missed the mark with that one. I've seen covers that sort of look like Death and the Maiden that I like better.

#53 and #54 I've discovered through lurking on your threads that if y'all like a book it's usually something that I'll like as well. That bodes well so I'm pushing The Graveyard Book to the top of the pile.

Woo hoo, Stasia, look at us! We're being a bad influence! Er, I mean a good influence, right?

#57: Oh good influence, yep, definitely good! lol

that depends on if you ask my brain or my pocket-book. I ordered The Graveyard Book used yesterday for $3.00. Should be here soon.

Sounds like a good deal!!

Yeah it does!

>59 yolana: Love the sound of that deal! I went to a library sale last week and spent nearly 2 hours there- came out with 8 novels and 6 children's books. Love a bargain (all in good condition too :-))

Library sales are dangerous. Especially the bag sales. I always stumble out with an overstuffed bag that I can barely hold then I get home and do the mad scientist gleeful laugh.

okay, by the hair of my chinny chin chin I managed to pull off 75 books this year. The final 17 are

re-read of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince to prep myself for the movie.
The Woman in White, which I really liked for the most part.
Middlemarch as part of a group read with some really wonderful insightful readers.
The Graveyard Book which I loved and had to wrest out of the hands of my 9 year old who had picked it up just to glance at it and got sucked in.
Reckless by Cornelia Funke. I was as good as inkheart but really could have lost 50 pages w/o harming the story any. I felt that way about inkheart as well.
Ghost Soldiers a history of the rescue of ther Bataan death camp survivors. I knew how it turned out and still I was on the edge of my seat (and bed)
The Bach Cello Suites by Eric Siblin a the story of a man with a non-classical music background who becomes smitten by these pieces and wants to find out as much as he can about them.
What Jane Austen ate and Charles Dickens Knew an excellent recommendation from someone on the Middlemarch thread.
Mr. Shivers meh
The Zombie Survival Guide which for the first 2/3 of the book was actually quite funny.
Journey to the Center of the Earth I've always wanted to read it.
Nox by Anne Carson a lovely moving poem in a lovely moving format.
Atlas of Remote Islands absolutely gorgeous. I'll probably do a review on it.
Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding... wonderful book but if you buy a lot of books or heaven place them in piles when you run out of shelf space like in my library, there will be moments when you take umbrage.
and last but not least my annual re-read of the Lotr which I'm counting as 3 books and which I didn't actually finish till new year's day.

No rest though, must get started on the next 75. Happy new year everyone.

Congratulations on reaching the 75 book mark for 2010! See you in the 2011 group.